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Tuesday, 24 April 2018

Race To The Bottom?

In the midst of the Windrush Scandal, is Theresa May a racist? No, of course not. Nor is Jeremy Corbyn an anti-Semite. And nor is the suggestion that he is one any kind of news story, having attracted to its heavily trailed demonstration far fewer people than some of us have often seen demonstrate against road schemes, building proposals, school closures, fracking or open-casting.

An ombudsman appointed by, and answerable to, the Board of Deputies and the "Jewish Leadership Council"? In that case, the Conservative Party needs an ombudsman appointed by, and answerable to, Unite and Momentum. Indeed, Momentum has no formal relationship with the Labour Party, whereas the "Jewish Leadership Council" is plainly and simply the remnant of what was once the formidable Conservative Party organisation in London.

Corbyn should have refused to meet either of them until the London local election results had established how much support they did or did not have. On the basis of those results, he could then have refused again, since it would have been clear that they spoke for practically nobody. It very soon will be.

The broadcast of the Stephen Lawrence documentary in the middle of the Windrush Scandal, but featuring Theresa May, was more than a little poetic. Her Stephen Lawrence Day strikes me as a trifle kitsch. But that could be overcome if the first one, 22nd April 2019, were to be the day on which the ancient protection against double jeopardy were restored, so that the State might no longer pursue the acquitted to the grave or until it got the result that it wanted. That anniversary would then be justly celebrated ever thereafter.

Viewers will also have noticed Marc Wadsworth introducing Doreen and Neville Lawrence to Nelson Mandela, the landmark meeting that won the case national attention. Wadsworth is currently suspended from the Labour Party because he is allegedly anti-Semitic. Many statements of Mandela's on the Israel-Palestine conflict would also now have secured his suspension or expulsion from the Labour Party, of which he was an Honorary Member, using the definition of anti-Semitism that is insisted upon by the Board of Deputies, by the "Jewish Leadership Council", and by their party within a party on the Labour benches in the House of Commons.